The Other Side
by jrb502
Summary: My own version of Vampire Diaries...from the very first episode.


The Other Side

Part one:

Amanda jumped out of her sleep, gasping for air and sweating profusely. This was not the the first time this had occurred over the past two weeks and was significantly interfering with her sleep. She immediately put on the light because she still felt immense fear from the nightmare, and saw that the clock read 4:15 am , which was the same time she always awakened this way. Her breathing rate then steadied and the trembling in her hands lessened. She calmed down and told herself it was just a dream, but it was one she could not ever remember. She had been waking up feeling this way, with a sense of an evil presence around her and significant fright, to not remember one detail about whatever it was that caused her to react this way. It was very odd and getting completely out of hand. She had been researching this for the past two weeks, and theorized it was a form of sleep paralysis due to stress. It was midterm month at college which was most likely triggering these dreams, or whatever they were. At first she did not even want to go to sleep at all, for she feared waking up this way, hence losing more sleep and not being able to function during the day. Last night she figured she would just let herself go to sleep and not to think about it, and here she was experiencing a 10th one so far. Her grades were not as good as she wanted them to be and it was due to these inconvenient nightmares. She realized she might need some psychiatric meds at this point, because she could not continue living this way. Her mother told her they would probably stop after her midterms were over but didn't understand that that was the exact time she didn't need them. For them to stop after wouldn't even mean a thing, they had to stop now! She threw the covers off of her, still feeling hot, and was about to head down stairs to get a cold glass of water when she got startled by a movement from the corner of her eye. She let out a small scream and then saw that it was the wind blowing her curtain...but she did not open her window. She definitely would have kept it closed, it was March in N.Y. She walked over to the window and slammed it shut, very angry and confused about what was gong on.

When she came back upstairs and finished her water, she felt a little better and was going to attempt to go back to sleep. She had to be up 9am, and it was almost 4:30 already. As soon as she lay back down she fell asleep immediately and it started again. She looked around her and saw her dark room, it was as if she were still awake. The room then started to spin and a deep sense of dread came over her, followed by a chill, even though her window was now closed. She couldn't move her lips to scream or her body to run, all she could do was wait in fear. Then she saw him. A dark shadow came into her peripheral vision, the profile of a man sitting on the side of her bed. She felt his cold hands touch her legs and slowly come up her thigh, lifting her nightgown up. When his hands got between her legs, he rubbed her there for a few minutes , which felt so good she wanted to cry out in pleasure but then quickly became tense as if knowing that it was completely wrong and she could not allow herself to enjoy it. The man's hand then caressed her stomach and grazed her erect nipples, continuing up toward her face and then tracing the outline of her lips. He then moved closer to her, but she still could not see his face because he was always just outside her central vision, and in the dark. She felt his cold lips slowly kiss her neck and her body tingled from the electricity that his touch brought to her nervous system. She liked the way he touched her, but at the same time she was very frightened by the vividness of the dream and wanted out. As he moved closer to her, she urged to see his face while at the same time not wanting to see what he looked like, for fear it may be the devil himself. His presence was evil, carnal and haunting. Then she saw him. His face then came into view as he slowly got on top of her, pinning her wrists down with his strong hands. He had ice blue eyes, pale skin and longish black as night hair. He was beautiful, the most beautiful man she had ever seen. But yet, there was an eeriness to his looks, that almost made him appear ugly at the same time, it was such a contradiction. He then made eye contact with her, and leaned over her and whispered in her ear. His voice gave her chills beyond what any temperature could, and said "I am your worst nightmare". Then he smiled evily and let out this deafening laugh as he lifted his head up. The moonlight shining into her room revealed two sharp teeth peering out from his top lip, and two glowing red eyes, and dark purple veins appearing on his pasty skin. He then suddenly came at her and bit into her neck, the pain was sharp and unbearable. She screamed inside, because she still could not actually vocalize or move, as he sucked blood straight from her carotid artery. He sucked her blood so clean and carefully that not a drop went anywhere except inside his mouth. As she laid there helplessly as he fed on her, the room started to spin again and then her alarm clock went off, waking her up. She sat up abruptly, from the sound of the alarm, and knew that she had had that dream again. Unfortunately once she was awake, she had no recollection of anything that had occurred.

And that was exactly how he had wanted it. She was young fresh meat to him, and was also a beautiful girl that reminded him of someone he used to know. Which was why he could not bring himself to drain her completely. He had been feeding from her for almost two weeks now, but could never manage to finish her off. It was not a common act for him, to leave his prey alive, but there was something about her. He knew that she wasn't her, but she sure looked identical to her. Catherine, that was her name. The one he loved and so tragically lost. He knew this was just a random girl, but the resemblance was extraordinary. The same olive complexion, dark brown hair and almond shaped eyes. They could have been sisters or even twins. He felt a deep attraction to her, which was messing with his daily routine. Just because she looked like Catherine did not mean anything, he tried to convince himself. She was just an ordinary girl who happens to have similar, well more like identical features, to her. Either way, he knew that was the reason she was still alive for this long. He usually sucked them dry in 3 nights. But this one, he kept coming back to. In a sick and twisted way, it was like he was remembering his long lost love, keeping her memory alive with her look a like. Although this was a bad idea and probably making things worse, he felt like she was Catherine. He had kissed her and touched her as if she were. Deep in his mind he knew she wasn't, but he felt that he could pretend she was for a few moments.

Amanda got through the remainder of the day exhausted as usual and feeling drained. Her friends kept saying that she looked so pale and skinny, which the latter part she didn't mind at all. She decided to go to the library after class to research more of these sleep paralysis dreams she was experiencing to see of there was a way to stop them, if that failed she would head to a psychologist. She also wanted to see if her symptoms were common for someone having these night terrors. She entered the two brown doors of the Bobst library of NYU, seeing the black and white floor greet her as she walked toward the elevator to head to floor 5; where all the spooky stuff was. She scanned the 5th flor shelves of tons of books about witchcraft, ghosts, satanism, vampirism, you name it and it was there. She opened up one book called The book of Nightmares and was frightened by some of the photos inside. One picture was of a girl in her bed with a black demon creature on top of her , suffocating her as she lied there helpless. Amanda could not help staring at it and feeling as though this were close to what she was experiencing. Just then someone tapped her on the shoulder and she got startled and slammed he book shut. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I was just gonna ask if you needed that book". Amanda looked at the good looking guy standing in front of her , who had black hair and piercing blue eyes and felt a sense of familiarity. "Um, do I know you? You look familiar, I mean yes- no, I don't need this book, you can take it...I was just looking through it". She handed it to him. The guy smiled at her, his teeth were so white and perfect. She had totally sounded like a stuttering fool and already embarrassed herself in front of him. "thank you, I'm just researching dreams for one of my classes and that was the book I was looking for. Thanks for finding it for me".

Without hesitation, Amanda replied " oh, yeah? Me too, well not for a class but for myself. I am interested in the topic of dreams and what they mean and all of that", which was a lie.

" it is a very interesting topic, you would like the class it's called dream interpretation. I'm Damion by the way. I'm a grad student". Amanda shook his outreached hand " I'm Amanda , also a grad student." "What for?" he asked, seeming interested. He probably was only making small talk with her because he felt weird to just take the book from her and leave. "nursing, you ?" Damion smiled " Mine is dentistry, I'm taking this class as an elective, but it was very nice meeting you...Amanda, hopefully I'll see you around". Amanda watched him walk away, noticing his black leather jacket, jeans and black combat boots, as he left the floor. He had a good fashion sense, and nice longish hair that she would like to..she stopped herself from any further thoughts. What a coincidence to be in a library researching crap on dreams and running into a total hottie like that. "hopefully I'll see you around" were his last words, hopefully, amanda thought, she would. She smiled to herself as she continued looking through the shelves. Maybe if she had a guy like that in her life, her stress level would go down and she wouldn't be up here reading useless books. She took one last look at the shelves and headed out. It was pointless, there was a cure for her nightly episodes...it was called sex and she was going to get it.

Damion left the library and put on his sunglasses as soon as he got outside. It was nice being able to be out in the sun, but his eyes were still sensitive to it. There was no remedy for that besides a good pair of Chanel sunglasses. He looked at ring on his middle finger, sterling silver with a blue stone in the middle. Fashionable, and also prevented his skin from burning in the sun. Vampires if they stayed long enough in the sun without protection could go up in flames and turn into ash, and it was extremely painful. He was glad that the ring got passed down to him and his brother. Stefan. Who he had not seen in 15 years. Stefan had no idea that he was back in NY, and he was in for a surprise. Stefan had come here because he was homesick and had been following that girl Amanda as well. Damion had found out from a few big mouths that his brother apparently trusted. When Damion heard that there was a girl that looked Catherine here, he had to see her for himself. Stefan was not killing her either, probably for the same reasons. Damion wondered how Stefan was going to present himself to Amanda, if he hadn't already. He was here for 3 weeks now, Damion arriving a week after. He wondered if Stefan noticed that the new girl he was stalking was also being bit by someone else, specifically his brother. He could not wait to see the look on Stefan's face when he tells him what he's done so far. He walked down the block, disappearing around the corner and thinking about how he was going to greet his estranged brother.

Stefan was in an apartment overlooking central park. When you were over 100 years old and could compel people, you can get anything you want for free. Unless humans ingested vervaine, a liquid that was poison to vampires and prevented their powers from working on people. He was here for one reason and one reason only. Amanda Samson. She had to be her reincarnated, or her doppelgänger,or a distant relative. Catherine's last name was Swanson, which was interesting, maybe it changed and evolved over the years to Samson. He was determined to get to know her. He had been watching her for almost a month now but never introduced himself to her. He had only seen her at a coffee shop, smiled and walked out. It's not that he was shy, but was afraid of scaring her away. He had to watch from a distance first and then decide how to approach her appropriately. She lived a pretty dull life from what he saw, the complete opposite of Catherine. Amanda studied, hung out with a few friends, didn't smoke or drink much, and was an ordinary girl. Catherine had been a rare kind, had a lust for life, was a risk taker and was extremely sexual. As many good qualities she had, there were also bad ones, like her selfishness, greed, narcissism and her indecisiveness. She had met him and his brother , Damion, in 1863 and had been dating Damion for a few months when she and Stefan starting to develop something on the side. Damion was devastated when he found out but still wanted to be with her. Catherine, on the other hand wanted to be with Stefan, although she ended up fooling around with Damion behind Stefan's back, of course till he caught them. It was a vicious love triangle and there was a lot of betrayal, but it was all for love in the end. However, there was something about her that he did not know, and Damion did. It was the fact that she was a vampire. The rest is history. He did not want to think about it anymore. His brother remained hating him even after death, wishing him nothing but a life of misery. Until 1 5 years ago, he had made various attempts at making Stefan miserable and messing things up until he finally left him alone. But now, he was back, Stefan was sure of it. There was someone else feeding on Amanda and he couldn't think of anyone else it cold be, that would try jeopardizing his plan, except the one and only Damion. Just then there was a knock at the door. Stefan looked up from his diary that he had been writing this in, to answer the door. Without thinking he opened the door to find Damion himself standing outside in the hallway. Damion smirked "long time no see, brother". Stefan stood there and crossed his arms. " Speak of the devil". Damion gave him a look over, " I see your style is a lot better than it used to be, that's why I've stayed away for the past 15 years. The grunge look didn't work so well for you". Stefan didnt react to his insult, " so, you've decided to come back and haunt me once again, huh? Guess you have nothing better to do with your time". Damion laughed " which I've got a lot of, by the way, oh and no offense I'm not here for you". Stefan nodded " right, you're here for her and if you think you're gonna continue feeding from her or hurt her I will kill you myself". Damion " wow so protective of her already and she probably doesn't even know you exist. Cause knowing you, you're writing away in that little diary of yours not making any moves. Shell be 80 by the time you manage enough balls to even say hi to her. You're pathetic" . Stefan getting angry " you sure about that? I'm the pathetic one yet you're here following me". Damion " I'm here following her, and I thought while I'm here why not rekindle our brothers hip-brotherhood, or whatever you call it, it's been a while, I've missed making you miserable". Stefan " you're not funny and I am not interested in ever trying to fix our relationship anytime soon, just leave me alone, that's all I ask for" and starts to shut the door. Damion pushes the door open " sucks, cause that's not an option. Look we were both were in love with Catherine and now here's her identical twin, we could collaborate on this and both have fun with her, what do you think, we can double team her?". Stefan looks at him in disgust " I think not, I suggest you stop what you're doing with her though or I'll stop you". Damion " ooh I'm so scared, no really this can be a great way for us to develop that friendship again, you know , be brothers like in the past and share the same girl, you now how you basically stole her from me in the past? Yeah now I'm gonna do that now...if you don't want to work together that is " . Stefan puts his hands on Damions shoulders and looks at him seriously " I'm warning you, stay the hell away from her and from me, you're dead to me". Damion " that I am, I'm undead actually, but guess what? so is Catherine. It's sad that for a second you think you're going to somehow get her back by being with this girl". But Damion knew deep down thats exactly what he was trying to do as well, guess they were more alike than he thought. Stefan " I'm warning you, just go back to where you came from and leave us alone." he shuts the door in Damions face before he could respond. Damion stands there " oh come on Stefan, just talk to me for a minute" Stefan yelled " I did, and got nothing out of it so please leave or I'll remove you". Damion rolled his eyes and left. It was no use, Stefan still hated him. Oh well, he gave him a chance to work together and he wasn't interested, which meant that the competition was now on. He smiled , put his sunglasses back on as he left the hotel and figured it was time for lunch.

Amanda had just finished studying for her last midterm, it was about time. Tomorrow was the pharmacology test and she was very anxious about it. She had heard from everyone that it was a make it or break it kinda test, hopefully she would make it. If only she doesn't have that damn dream, she desperately needed some shut eye. She wondered if having a shot or two would really work like her friend said, maybe it would make her sleep so deeply she wouldn't even go through a REM stage at all. That sounded promising. She took out a bottle of vodka she bought from the liquor store on her way home, from her school bag, Smirnoff plain. She twisted the cap off and took a large swig from the bottle, scrunching her face in disgust. And then she went for two more. "that should do it". After 10 min, she started to feel the effects of the alcohol and she got undressed and laid in her bed. After staring at the ceiling spin for 2 minutes , she fell asleep. When she opened her eyes she knew she was where she didn't want to be. Back in the dream. Only this time it did not feel as scary, she looked around her dark room using only eye movements because her body was paralyzed. Then she heard a faint voice, a mans voice, that sounded gentle and sweet calling her name. "Amanda, its alright. I'm not gonna hurt you. I didn't know my brother was feeding on you and I'll make sure he stays away from you. Only I can feed from you". She saw a handsome man with light brown spiky hair standing at the foot of her bed. She could only stare. Then he walked over to the side of her bed and sat down. He put his large strong hand on her chest and the other one around her neck. It felt amazing, his touch. She felt she could trust him. He went in for a bite but Amanda did not feel a thing because he was so careful and gentle. She closed her eyes and let him suck her blood. Well she didn't really have a choice anyway. Then she sensed an evil presence and knew that he was coming. She figured the black haired guy was this mans brother. The black haired guy appeared on the other side of her bed, casting a large shadow over her entire bed. The brown haired guy stopped drinking and then growled at the other man across from him. " stay away from her Damion, I'm warning you". Damion laughed and grabbed her neck

" what's the matter, can't brothers share a meal Stefan?" Stefan jumped across the bed to attack Damion, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him up against her wall. He did it so hard hat her lamp fell to the floor and smashed. Damion tried to pry Stefan's hand off his neck but was unsuccessful. Stefan " I warned you, but you didn't listen. She's mine not yours!" Damion finally got his hands off and said " you don't own her Stefan, you never did. Not Catherine, or this girl". Stefan " well maybe if you had been a more interesting boyfriend she wouldn't have slept with me while dating you". Without hesitation Damion punched Stefan in the face, causing him to fall backward onto amanda's bed. All she could do was lie there waiting to wake up. Stefan got back up and then punched damion in the stomach. Damion keeled over holding his stomach as Stefan then kneed him in the face. Damions nose started bleeding, but he was not about to give up. He looked at Stefan like he wanted to kill him, and then he roared and threw Stefan to the other side of the room. Stefan hit the wall on the opposite side and fell to the floor. Damion walked over to him and started kicking him. Damion " if you think for a second you can beat me, you're delusional. I've gotten much stronger, you're a weakling. Look at you, taking tiny sips from her and probably a squirrel or two. I on the other hand, like to drink larger portions preferably from something alive, something human. And that's why I'm more powerful than you Stefan." Stefan was still on the floor holding his ribs where he was kicked " I'd rather be weak than anything like you". Damion stared at him in pity " now if you don't mind, where was I ?" he walked over to Amanda looking at he blood dripping down her neck from where Stefan had started, and then he looked at her. " don't worry, it won't hurt a bit" he said and then he chomped down on her neck, licking the left over blood that dripped down to her breast. When his mouth got close to her nipple, he started to suck on it for a moment , his tongue circling them. The feeling make her toes curl, and not in a bad way. Damion looked up at her as if knowing he turned her on, with her blood all over his face. As he continued tounging her nipple, Amanda saw Stefan's hand reach up below the bed and pull Damion down to the ground. Stefan grabbed one of her throw pillows on the foot of the bed and held it over Damions face, smothering him as he lay on his back on the floor. He struggled and squirmed, his legs and arms moving frantically and then the movements became weaker until they finally stopped. Stefan removed the pillow and looked at Damion lying there passed out. He looked up at Amanda " I promised you wouldn't get hurt, I'm here to protect you". He gave her one last look and then he lifted his brothers limp body off the floor and they both disappeared. "Amanda, Amanda, wake up your alarm has been going off for 20 minutes" yelled her mother from the other room. Amanda awoke suddenly, and looked at the clock. " fuck, I'm gonna be late". She got dressed as fast as she could, panicking that she only had 40 minutes to get to school. As she put her bag on her shoulder she saw her lamp on the floor broken. She hadn't even realized it because she was rushing, she looked at the mess on her floor not remembering why it had fallen in the first place. Without another thought, she ran out the door wondering what caused her lamp to fall off the night stand. Whatever it was, it was freaking her the hell out. But right now, she had an exam to get through.

Stefan walked into his apartment, still carrying a passed out Damion. He tossed his limp body on the sofa and walked into the bathroom to clean himself up. He was still in pain from being kicked so many times. By now he should be completely healed. One thing damion was right about was that he wasnt as strong because he didn't prefer to drink large portions of human blood or human blood at all. Unfortunately he was weaker because of that, but at least he wasn't hurting anyone. He didn't want to be how he used to be, or how Damion had now become. After he finished drying the blood from his face, he saw a movement on the couch and figured he was now awake. It was show time. He grabbed a wooden stake from the bathroom shelf and stormed into the living room. Damion was sitting up on the couch, practically healed already. Stefan stood directly in front of him, holding the stake behind his back. Damion " good fight, you held your own, although I have to admit the whole smothering thing was a sucka move, I was distracted and you snuck up on me". Stefan "it worked, didn't it ?, what are you surprised that I still kicked your ass in the end even without drinking as much as you?" Damion says " what do you have in your hand, Stefan? Is that a stake, are you planning on killing me?" while laughing. Stefan " as a matter of fact, I do. I plan on jamming this stake so far into your heart it, it comes out through your back" he says standing there angry and ready. Damion looks at him calmly, which pissed Stefan off. Stefan pounced on Damion, grabbing his neck with one hand and pinning him down, and raising the stake in the air with his other hand. Damion " youre still fast I see. But not fast enough" and he got out of Stefan's hold in a millisecond, kicking Stefan causing him to fall back onto the couch. Damion shouts at him " you think you're so slick, well get it through your head. You're nothing, you're just a wimpy little vampire that regrets his past and feels so guilty about what he's done that he has to stalk a little girl for fucks sake and try to kill his brother so that he doesn't have to be reminded of what he created. " Stefan stared at him, his nostrils flaring from anger. Stefan " you're right, I don't want to be reminded of the monster I created, therefore I'm going to destroy it" . He charged at Damion, gabbed his arm and finally got him up against a wall. Then he put the stake against the left side of Damions sternum. Damion " go ahead, do it Stefan, I dare you". Stefan was breathing heavily and looked at the stake so close to damions heart. He wa so close, it was now or never. He started to push the stake through his chest and damion looked at him surprised. " didn't think I'd do it, did you?" Damion " guess the old Stefan is still in there somewhere, he was a murderer" Stefan stopped pushing the stake in for a moment, and then replied " no you don't count, I only worry about innocent women, children and people that are human. You're not a human, you're a monster, a horrible thing that deserves to die for good. You're not my brother, but a pest that follows me wherever I go. I need to get rid of you" . He the continues pushing the stake through his chest enjoying the sound of Damion in pain. He really thought Stefan wasn't going to do it, which was why he let him get him in is position at all. But now he wasn't so sure Stefan would back down and he was completely screwed. He felt the stake inching closer and closer to his heart, as Stefan slowly stabbed him. Stefan enjoyed do it slowly, because he wanted to make this as painful a death as possible. Damion " Stefan, come on, you'll regret this, you always do. How will you live with yourself knowing you killed our own brother?" Stefan ignored him, focusing on stabbing him in the heart. It was now right there. A millimeter closer and Damon would turn into dust, this was it. Stefan paused for a moment and looked at damion. He looked back at him pleading with his eyes, looking frightened, for him to stop. Stefan just stood there with the stake literally about to puncture his heart, and then he just choked. He pulled the stake away, He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill his brother. The truth was, at this point he was the only family he had left. Stefan lowered the stake and backed away, letting damions arm go. Damion still stood against the wall holding his bleeding chest, looking at Stefan " why didn't you do it ?" Stefan looked damion in the eye " you're right, I'm better than this. I'm not a killer, I don't want to be a killer. Especially to kill my own family". Damion " but I'm nothing to you remember?" Stefan " I'm just angry, angry that I caused you to become like this and how you always taunt me, its like i cant forget". Damion " it was my choice in the end to be this way, don't blame yourself...fully." Stefan thought back to 1864….TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
